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About two weeks after announcing it was launching a used-vehicle pricing index, TrueCar utilized this week’s CPO Forum as platform to reveal who will be the executive vice president and general manager of the initiative.

Picked to serve in this role for ClearBook is industry veteran Jim O’Brien. Officials said O’Brien will work directly with TrueCar founder and chief executive officer Scott Painter to bring transparency to used-vehicle pricing guides.

ClearBook — slated to debut before the end of the year — is designed to gather, aggregate and examine used-vehicle asking price data in a given market, and then present the trends that are found. The tool will show the trending in used-car asking prices on a curve, just like the company does for its new-car price distribution curve.

TrueCar is asking O’Brien to oversee all aspects of operations, including business development, dealer relationships, product development, technology, analytics and marketing for ClearBook.

“I’ve spent the majority of my career in the used-car industry. ClearBook is a fresh and innovative alternative to the widely used, but subjective and non-transparent consumer pricing guides,” O’Brien stated.

“I’m excited about bringing transparency to the used-vehicle pricing challenge that all consumers face at some time or another,” he added.

O’Brien brings more than 15 years of expertise in executive management, strategic leadership, information technology and operations in the used-vehicle retail and wholesale markets.

Prior to joining TrueCar, O’Brien served as vice president of dealer sales and auction operations at OPENLANE and was co-founder and president of LaneLogic. Previously, he was national director of used-vehicle strategy at Sonic Automotive and director of used vehicles at AutoNation.

Additionally, officials mentioned O’Brien held positions at The Cobalt Group, iMotors.com, A.T. Kearney and Toyota Motor Sales.

TrueCar.com customers, and its more than 50 Zag partner sites, plan to use ClearBook to evaluate a given vehicle’s asking price in a given market, and in turn, to evaluate the fairness of a dealer’s trade-in offer.

“TrueCar.com and Zag have proven the value of fair upfront pricing on new cars to both the consumer and dealer. This same approach applied in the used-car and trade-in market offers a win-win to all,” O’Brien emphasized.

“Over time, ClearBook’s used-car know-how, and its transparent analytics supports a cash offer for your trade service, which we will deliver to our customers over the Internet,” O’Brien went on to say. 

O’Brien represented ClearBook and TrueCar at the CPO Forum as part of a panel on certified pre-owned pricing trends and forecasting. He also is scheduled to be a featured speaker on used-vehicle prices alongside representatives from the National Automobile Dealers Association, Black Book and Kelley Blue Book.

Painter elaborated about why O’Brien was the proper choice to lead TrueCar’s latest endeavor.

“Buying a used car can be just as overwhelming, time consuming and frustrating as buying a new car, maybe even more so with so much subjectivity around the asking price and condition of the vehicle,” Painter insisted.

“ClearBook is another step in TrueCar’s mission to make car buying easier and more transparent for consumers,” Painter continued. “Jim’s used-car expertise and extensive management background will help ClearBook become an impactful business right out of the gate. We’re very excited to have him on the team.”